Archive for September, 2007

In response to complaints about dark screens on the new Apple iPod Touch the company admitted last week that some of the screens that left manufacturing facilities were defective, and Apple is looking for a way to remedy the situation.

According to reports from various blogs and Apples own iPod Touch discussion board, the screens on the new 16GB iPods from various weeks of production have a darker than normal display, and with some darker video scenes are almost unwatchable. Since these issues weren’t as notable with the original iPhone it brings up suspicions that the new Touches were designed with a possibly inferior, or at least different, display than the iPhone.

The iHome iHC5S is one of those incredible multi-gadgets that pack maybe one-too-many features into a single system. Fortunately in this case the features all seem to pretty much go together, unlike the stranger combination found Mini-Fridge we saw earlier this month.

iHome has put together a clock radio that connects wirelessly via the Handsfree, Headset, AVRCP and A2DP Bluetooth profiles to give a system that integrates with Bluetooth enabled mobile phones. The Clock Radio Speaker System, as iHome descriptively calls it, has the ability to receive streaming music from your phone and play it through the 4 built-in stereo speakers. It also lets you control the playback through the system or an included remote control. The alarm clock also allows you to wake up to a buzzer, radio or the streamed music from your phone.

Alienware continues to break ground with its notebooks as the company is now boasting the first consumer-available portable system that comes with an internal 320GB hard drive. What can you do with 320GB? Well, according to Alienware you’re looking at up to 53 games, 80 movies or over 81,000 songs giving you an estimated 339 days of continuous music.

The company is offering the 15.4-inch Area-51 m1550, the 17-inch Aurora m9700 and the Area-51 m9750 with the new, larger 5400RPM hard drives. Since the 17-inch models have dual drive bays you can even double that and have two drives either separate or in a RAID array. They also have the option of paring with SSD drives to give you the best of both worlds in storage and speed.

Zip Zip Memory Bricks are small USB 2.0 Flash memory drives encased inside a Lego-type toy building brick. When the cap is on they appear like a normal toy brick, but pulling one half of the brick apart exposes the USB 2.0 connector. They come in colors of green, yellow, blue, red, black or white, much like Lego bricks do, and have a capacity of 1GB.

The Memory Bricks also have a lanyard attached to make them harder to lose and easier to identify should you happen to drop it into a pile of regular toy bricks. The company says you can stack memory bricks just like you would with regular toy bricks, but what would be cooler is if the memory would stack up as well!

The PlayStation 3 needs a killer game. Fighting with low sales (Nintendo’s Wii currently sells more units than the PS3) and increased competition from Microsoft (“Halo 3″ is easily the biggest game for the fall/holiday season) Sony had been hoping that its “Home” social gaming network would be ready for the fall and generate some needed excitement amongst gamers. Unfortunately for Sony “Home” isn’t ready for a Q3 launch and has been moved back now for a spring 2008 debut so that it can “improve product quality.” Citing the need to make environments that fulfill the needs of America, European and Asian gamers, Sony chief executive Kazuo Hirai said “We aim to launch this as something that can meet expectations of people all over the world.”

Consumers are starting to watch more movies and TV shows on their monitors these days. Rather than get up and hang out in the rec room where little Billy might be playing on his PlayStation or Grandpa is watching the news, we’re finding it more convenient to stay seated, a click away from downloading the new episode of “Lost” or sliding a movie disc in our DVD/HD-DVD/Blu-ray drive. Viewsonic is going after that segment of the home market with the launch of its Diamani DUO series of monitors which are now on sale.

Along with BenQ’s C840 camera announcement earlier today, the company has also unveiled the BenQ C30 mobile phone featuring dedicated media controls on the top edge of the device. According to BenQ, the placement of these controls are in a more convenient spot and make it easier to access when it’s in your pocket.

The buttons on top control music playback and two of them double to control the built-in FM radio and VGA digital camera. The C30 also contains a microSD card slot and stereo speakers so you can listen to your music without headphones.

A subsidiary of GE Fanuc has produced a field-ready explosion-proof pc for users in less than optimal computing environments. The Ruffneck’s high tollerance to extreme temperatures is thanks to its thermally managed body capable of withstanding temperatures as low as -40 and as high as 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Attention was paid to rugged detail with its 15 inch LCD screen designed for handling by a gloved user. The PC itself includes Windows XP running a 1.6GHz Pentium M processor with 2GB of RAM and a 40GB disk and a CompactFlash SSD option. The Ruffneck is a heavyweight, weighing it at 45 lbs and is wall mountable. There is currently no word on price.

This week BenQ announces an upgraded version of their C740i camera with the C840. The new model features a 2.5 inch LTPS screen with an 8MP resolution and 3X optical zoom. The camera allows for full control over the outcome of the image with its P/Av/Tv/M feature.

The C840 is equipped with a Pentax lens facilitating 99.8% light penetration making it the most light sensitive camera in its class. An emphasis on widescreen shooting and an optional 16:9 resolution ratio for HDTV display shows that BenQ is forward thinking with this camera. MJPEG videos are shot at a near DVD quality 720×400 resolution at 30 frames per second and are optionally stored in its 4GB internal storage or SDHC card, support for which is an upgrade from the C740i counterpart.

Take a look at this super-portable DVD player concept designed by Yeon-shin Seung. The design looks similar to the ultra-portable CD player concept we say back in August but incorporates a flexible display screen that scrolls up which would be made he Sony full color flexible organic electroluminescent display material, according to the designer.

It starts out looking like a candy bar style phone and the top half swivels to expose a speaker, DVD controls and a place to turn the DVD. The screen then pulls up like a rolled up projector screen to provide the display. Pretty cool.

That Playstation Eye camera from Sony designed for use with the PS3 has finally gotten some release information and pricing. According to the Playstation Blog, the PS3 Eye camera will be available for purchase on October 23rd.

In what seems almost like an accidental side note in an announcement regarding the release of The Eye of Judgment game from Hasbro, the the Playstation Eye looks like it is going come bundled with the trading card game and together will retail for just $69.99 in the US.

There’s been days when I’ve come home from my job (not this job) where I’m on my feet all the time and wondered just how many miles I walk in an actual day. Wearing a pedometer would be a good way to find out but having some little gadget clipped to my belt causes everyone I run into at the office to ask what the little thing is that I have clipped to my belt.

The ThinQ pedometer from Sportline is about the size of a credit card (3mm thick) and easily fits into your pocket or even your wallet giving you discrete tracking of your steps, distance traveled and calories burned. It also houses a sports timer and comes in colors of blue, orange or green, retailing for about $35.

Unfortunately the iSlide is still a conceptual transport device, but the idea looks pretty good and it’s getting some due attention. Designed by Ofir Tal in Israel, the iSlide would be powered by a hydrogen fuel cell to provide clean, personal transportation in a similar fashion to a Segway, but in a skateboard-like design.

The iSlide has a single wheel in the center that drives it, and is controlled by tilting it forward to move forward and back to slow down. The ends appear to also have some “wheely bars” to help with balance and it even has a light on the front for traveling at night. It’s top speed is a little under 10 miles an hour which isn’t too bad for a skateboard.

Nokia launched a pretty cool product yesterday with the Nokia 6301 mobile phone. The device features a thin, sleek design and looks similar to many other mobile phones that are released these days, but it has a more unique feature you’ll probably be seeing more of going forward.

The 6301 phone is able to seamlessly switch between GSM cellular connections and Wi-Fi connections, allowing voice connectivity through each when needed. The phone can pick up standard cell coverage when you’re out and about like any other cell phone. When your indoors where you might not get the best cell coverage it can switch over and start utilizing your Wi-Fi network instead through Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) technology.

Illustrated right is a render of the Meizu M7 touch screen miniPlayer geared to compete directly with iPod Touch. The media player is targeted for a March 2008 release with a price tag that could draw business away from Apple for all but the most die-hard iPod users. The tentatively named M7 will sport a 2.8 inch touch screen with a 16:9 480×228 resolution and supports H.264 playback. At $100, $110 and $150 for 2GB, 4GB and 8GB models respectively, the M7 is likely to be a very popular iPod clone.

While a cheaper alternative to the Apple iPod MP3 player, its lower price likely indicates this Chinese manufactured Miezu clone will lack the quality and attention to detail that the Apple players have become known for. The design concept has only recently and hurriedly been announced so stay tuned for any updates.